


Operation Threat Containment

by Ioga



Series: The Mind Control Unit [2]
Category: Ingress (Video Game)
Genre: Deliberations, Gen, Meetings Are Great, Organizational Problem-solving, Via Lux Anomaly, We Require Solution-Orientedness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 10:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7886866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ioga/pseuds/Ioga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Enlightened agents gather for an emergency meeting on how to neutralize a troublesome Resistance agent who is too productive for his own good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Threat Containment

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a Friendly Neighbourhood Way Too Effective Enemy Agent. We hope you had fun at Via Lux while the neighbourhood was burning green. ;)

The meeting room was slowly filling up with people.

"Welcome to this crisis meeting. As you know, our agenda is simple." The commander made some gestures at the control pad, and an outline of a person surrounded by statistics appeared on the big screen. "It concerns this man.

"We believe this enemy agent to be at the center of our problems in area 67. He is dominating all the defense and assault activities in the area for the Resistance. We do not know much about him, but he seems to be everywhere at once."

The commander paused for a long, serious look in the eye of everyone present. "We must find a way to stop him."

He went on to show motivational visualization imagery of the mind control field development in the area. In terms of motivation pitches, the screen captures were mostly somewhat depressing, though rather pleasing to the geometrically oriented eye in their thoroughness. 

It was quite clear that locally, the Resistance was not so much executing a guerrilla operation as it was performing a meticulous, even possibly obsessive-compulsive zone domination. 

The situation was grim, though not completely without benefit either. Due to the extreme predictability and stability of the zone, the area had for long been used as a sample site to stress test protective field agent equipment designed to filter out mind control field effects to avoid unpleasant side effects from prolonged exposure.

For the most part, the effect seemed to be contained within a particular area. There were limits to what a single enemy agent could do, even if he was seemingly everywhere at once.

The commander opened the floor for discussion, and reminded everyone to aim for constructive solution-orientedness. He made the statement with a understanding glance at an agent who looked particularly bleak. The young agent straightened up in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his "WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE" T-shirt, and tried very hard to look like a paragon of positive focus.

A silence filled the room.

After a while of attentively watching the people present for signs of the first brave idea, the commander sighed. "Very well, I open the floor for problem-orientedness as well so that you may relieve stress by venting. Carry on."

An elegant older woman dressed in a black, flowing dress stood up. "We have tried several types of sabotage, but the results have been thin so far. In some of the cases, there is even reason to believe that his constructions BENEFIT from being attacked, and learn to adapt against some forms of attack." 

A nervous-looking agent added, "We are seriously running into staffing issues as well, the thick mind control field does not really allow sending senior agents into the area where they could be negatively influenced by long-term exposure. I alone have recruited 5 more new agents just to have SOME impact in this area, but it's like the fields end up just absorbing whatever we do. The fields are so thick it's even hard to keep your bearings in there!" She finished with a shaken giggle, then firmly focused on the pile of papers she was organizing into exact piles again.

The resident chief psychologist in charge of field operative counceling piped in, "We have to do something about this! Some of the undercover agents we sent to the area had their first farming experiences in the company of amicable enemy agents. Now they were so scarred they can't even get a production portal up in Enlightened company. You all know how early experiences shape future behaviour, we have added warnings about this in the Field Operative's Handbook! How can you ignore such blatant damage to our future generations!"

The crowd erupted in multiple murmured conversations at once. The commander lifted his hands to calm down the audience. "It is true that we have been forced to stretch our resources to deal with the situation. But this is war, gentlemen, and would you rather spare our youth so that they could witness a future under the rule of the Resistance? They know what they are getting into, and do it willingly."

An agent in a white researcher coat who had been silent until now blinked as if waking from a daze, and stood up, putting both his hands on the table. "I have an idea. Assassin bunnies. We train them, and they hide in the grass, and wait for him to pass by and BOOM!" He waved his arms to demonstrate the dramatic effect.

He was pulled down by another white-coated agent sitting next to him, and protested "What, the commander said himself that we need creative solutions!" before settling back down.

The nervous-looking agent spoke again, timidly. "...have we considered recruiting from the enemy camp? They might be able to deliver information that could help us get through the protections around the portals...."

Several members of the audience looked shocked, even more appalled at this suggestion than at the thought of haranguement by harey hasashins, which, after all, had previous success stories such as submarine-seeking dolphins and loaded tank retrievers to back it up. 

The commander shook his head sadly. "That is not our way."

The black-clad woman peered at the previous speaker for a while, then got the commander's attention to speak again. "Something we could do... is either to disrupt him in person where he is, or disrupt him by changing him out of the familiar environment. We could set up some kind of political scandal that would disconnect him from backup and disrupt the operation itself. Or maybe if we could come up with something that would lure him out of the area. He would be weaker in a strange place. And if we have enough time, we could change THIS area to be so different he would not have the dominating benefit here either when he returns." 

The commander was nodding slowly. "Yes, there could be some kind of bait to lure key persons out while we strike at their flank..."

At the end of the meeting, a committee was formed to deliberate on and research the problem further. After all, it was clear that this problem as well as any others could not be anything that technology would not solve.


End file.
